OK, for the life of me I don’t know how this topic hasn’t been discussed to death but I searched the forums and couldn’t find the info I needed … so my apologies in advance if I missed something.
So we are a new (2 month old) biz in Northern California and, due to many customer requests, anxious to start offering deliveries. I want to make sure that we are rock solid in regards to insurance. In your opinion, what is the best/safest insurance option? I spoke with our general liability insurance broker and this is what he told me:
Our insurance WILL cover delivery drivers. However, when you hire a delivery driver, this is what you need before they can work:
a. Drivers license on file
b. Insurance policy on file (so we need to know the name of the company, expiration dates and limits)
c. They must add our name as “insured†on their policy
d. If they have a Combined Single Limit (CSL) policy, they must have a minimum of $100,000 coverage.
e. If they have a split coverage, they must have a minimum of: $50,000 individual/$100,000 occurrence/$50,000 property damage
Is it as simple as “add us to your policy, make sure that you have the minimum coverage and give us the paperwork?”
It just seems like it should be a little more complicated than this!
You should do some more research on this, because I have never seen a General Liability policy cover non-owned autos.
There is might be an issue with drivers adding you to their policy as well. There’s probably no way their insurance company is going to do that when they are out driving commercially.
I’ve never heard of this either - why/how would they add ‘you’ to their insurance?? and if there is a cost increase who pays it and whats to stop the driving removing ‘you’ the next day once you’ve taken a copy of their insurance.
Wizzle and Piper, I agree with you. It doesn’t make much sense to me so I want to make sure that everything is on the up and up. What are you guys doing as far as insurance? Any company in particular that you recommend? And as an aside, if I, as the owner, choose to make an occasional delivery on my own time, will I need to have a specific delivery insurance or should my regular auto insurance suffice?
I have an non-owned policy which provides coverage for employees whilst on the clock. I’m not in the US so can’t give you a specific recommendation of a company. In my area getting ‘pizza delivery’ added to the coverage on a drivers own policy is expensive so my policy is a way to ensure they are road legal.
Virtually all of my drivers existing cover (though their own choice) will only pay out to the third part they hit with no coverage for their own vehicle.
Re your own delivery you will need to ensure you personal policy covers pizza delivery and if not get a policy that does.
I use HRH out of California. They are the official delivery insurance provider for the NAPO. Before them I used a local company and paid over $5,000 per year just for delivery insurance. With HRH I’m paying about the same for GL, non-owned auto and dram shop coverage. I can PM you my representative’s contact info if you’d like.
Your regular insurance will not cover your business liability if you’re in an accident while delivering. The non-owned auto does not only cover the liability while driving, but also covers your business in the event you are sued, which is very important. If, heaven forbid, you were to get in a major accident and somebody was seriously injured or killed your business is going to be sued - potentially for millions.
All you need to do is add yourself as an approved driver and you’ll be covered. You do that by faxing a copy of your MVR, insurance and a vehicle inspection (done yourself) to HRH and they will add you to the roster of drivers. This is what you’ll do when hiring any driver.